Water-closet construction



s. F. nAvlsoN WATER GLOSET CONSTRUCTION Filed Avril 15 1922 i I l i. il le IN VEN TOR.

Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

.UNITED STATES 1507815-6 PATENT-f ofFr1cE- GEORGE n. Davison, on LA sALLnILLINOIs, vAssIeNo'non' OnnHALF' To DAVID `faronnniv, or ,LA SALLE, ILnINois.

wATnR-oLOsnT CONSTRUCTION.

. Appncation sied april 15, 1922. serial No. 553,045.

To all whom t may concern-: i

Beit known that I, GEORGE F. DnvrsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at La Salle, in the county of La Salle and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Water-Closet Constructions, of which the following is a full, clear, concisa-and eXact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying draw-` ing, forming a part of this specification.

vMy invention relates to water closet construction. p

It frequently happens, when the valve which controls the flow from the tank to the bowl has been unseated, that the bowl will overflow before the valve will be again seated, causing an overiiow onto the floor of the bathroom, which sometimes causes a great deal of damage tothe building.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby, if it appears that the bowl is likely to overflow before the valve seats, the valve can be forced to its seat manually, thus preventing any further flow from thetank tothe bowl,

Another obj ect of my invention is to provide means whereby if it appears probable that there is danger of a severe freeze the valve can be adjusted so as to permit a slight flow of water continuously.

In the drawings in which several embodiments of my inventionA are shown- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a water closet tank provided with my improvement;

Fig. 2 is a frontelevation showing a different form of my device; 3

Fig. 3 another form of my device;

Fig. 4 is a View showing a attaching means; y

Fig. 5 is a view showing a detail of construction; Y i

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5; and y i Fig. 7 is a detail View showing another feature of construction. f

detail of an Referring irst to the construction shown' in Fig. 1, this is of the type having a pressure-seated buoyant flush valve 1()y which may be freed from itsseatf by means of al is a front elevation showing still top ermit the valve` 10-l tofbe seatedjyxagain onv its valve seat.A 13. ,-Thereafter, water flows into the tank 12 through the usual float valve until theftank 12 is filled tothe level maintained by the lfloat valve. Asrthe ioat valve constructionreferred to isv lwellknown, and forms no partof the combina-v tion claimed, it hasnotbeenshown in the drawing.

A s vstated above, "it 'frequentlyhappena vwhen thejvalve V10 has been unseated by means of the handle 11, thatthe bowl will Overiow before lthe 'valve will v.be again i seated.- In Order to enable"this-overf1owl to be prevented, I provide an emergency attachment by;` means of which thegffloatj" valvel() can'be forceddownwardly, against the buoyant action of the valve, onto the valve seat 13, to prevent Aany further flow of water from the `tank 12 into the bowl.

,Thisv emergency attachment, as exemplified Vin Fig. 1, comprises a levery 14, pivotally mounted inside the tank at V15, andi having one `arm 16 bearing onthe ,buoyant ,iiush valvelO and the other arml 17 connected to a pull chain 18, which extends out through Van Opening 19 in position convenient for operation.

In order to enable the device to be readily applied to constructions already installed, I

provide a readily attachab-le bearing forl the lever 14, asshown in'Fig. 4.' lThisy bearing comprises a'turnbuckle construction having two foot portions 20 and v21 respectively,

which; are forced against the oppositesides of theV tank ,respectivelyr by means of the turnbuckle r22. The lever 14 maybe pivotally l v cured tothe foot 2,0.

4 In Order to provide a bearing or wear-re v sisting construction vwhere the chainlS mounted on the shank 28, which issepasses through the wall of thetankkl proi vide a metal eyelet 24, as shown in dethil in Figs. l5 and 6, which is, clamped Onto the wall of the taiik-12 by means of a nut 25, i

eyelet. l v Asv shown inFigs.` 5` and 6, this eyelet is threaded onto thel tubular* shank of `the provided `witha key-hole shaped openi-ng 25a, the upper part of which provides a free' passage for the chain, andthe lower part of which may be used as a holding device to hold the chain in any desired position. If

it appears that there is danger of a severe freeze, the valve 10 may be maintained a slight distance from its seat by means of the chain 26 to permit a slight continuous flow of water to prevent freezing. The valve may be held in this adjusted position by utilizing the keyehole shaped slot 25a referred to above. This key-hole may also be utilized to hold the valve positively seated in case it should be desired to positively prevent it from being moved from its seat, for cleaning, repairs, etc.

Inv operation, if it appears that the bowl is likely to overflowjbefore the water level in the tank 12 is low enough to permit the valve 10 to seat automatically in the usual way, the chain 18 is pulled to force the arm 16 of the lever 14 downwardly to forcibly seat the valve 10 against its buoyant action. Thus, the flow from the tank 12 is cut olf and overflow of the bowl is prevented. It is, of course, understood that after the valve has once been pressed to its seat, it will be held there by the pressure of the water in the tank against the buoyant action of the valve.

In Fig. 2 is shown a dierent form of device for forcing the buoyant valve 10 to its seat. In this construction, the valve 10, the valve seat 13, and the tank 12 may be the same as in the construction previously described. In this form the buoyant valve may be drawn .to its seat against its buoyant action by means of a chain 26 passing over a pulley 27, having one end secured tothe valve stem 28 of the valve 10, the other end 'of the pull chain passing out through the eyelet 24 as in the form previously described. The pulley may be secured to the shank 23 of the turnbuckle construction shown and previously described in connection with Fig. 4.

The operation of theV construction shown in Fig. 2 is substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 1, that is, in an emergency the valve may be pulled to its seat by pulling on the chain 26.

In Fig. 3 is shown another form of my invention in which the valve 10 may be pushed to its seat 13 in an` emergency by means of a jointed push-rod 29, the lower end 30 of which bears on the buoyant valve 10, and the upper end of which extends through an opening in the cover 31 of the tank. Normally the upper joint 32 of the jointed push-rod may be folded down so as to lie flat against the cover 31 of the tank, but in an emergency the joint 32 may be straightened up and the push-rod pressed down to bring it to the full line position shown in Fig. 3, to press the valve 10 to its seat.

Figure shows a detail of the jointedA in Fig. 7 these joints are pivotally connected together at 34:, the joints being so constructed that when the bevelled lower end 35 of the upper joint 32 comes against the bevelled portion 36 of the lower joint 33, the two joints will be held in alignment with each other. rlhe operation of this device is substantially the same as in the form previously described, that vis to say, when it appears that the buoyant valve 10 will not seat automatically in time to prevent overflow of the bowl the upper joint 32 of the push-rod is straightened out and the rod is pushed down into the full line position shown in Fig. 3, pushing the buoyant valve 10 to its seat against its buoyant action.

' It will be seen that there is a common idea in all of the valves, that of preventing overflow of the bowl in an emergency by forcing the buoyant flush valve to its seat against the buoyant action of the valve, tocut off the flow of water from the tankto the bowl sooner than it would be cut off automatically in the ordinary operation of the valve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is- 1. The combination with a water closet tank, a buoyant pressure-operated flush valve, and a valve seat therefor, and manually operable means for freeing said buoyant valve from its seat to permit it to rise because of its buoyancy, of means for maintaining said buoyant flush valve submerged but a slight distance from its seat to permit a slight flow of water to prevent freezing.

2. The combination with a water closet tank, a buoyant pressure-seated flush valve, and a seat'for said valve, of mechanical means for positively holding said valve submerged, but a slight distance from its seat, comprising a flexible pull member extending fromrthe lower part of the tank to the upper part of thetank and connected to said valve, said tank having an opening through which said pull member extends, and means in said opening for securing said flexible member to hold it in position.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

GEORGE F. DAVISON. 1Witnesses z n CONRAD A. LINDENMEYEP., B. lV. HETHERINGTON.

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